Racing New South Wales CEO Peter V'landys "has taken the gloves off" as he fights to retain A$10M ($9M) in funding for the sport's showcase, The Championships, and for the future of racing in NSW, according to Chris Roots of the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD. The racing chief "was left fuming about an offer" of a A$10M loan to industry to run the event for the next four years by Premier Mike Baird, who has yet to meet with racing officials. Racing NSW's main aim, however, "is to have a funding model that would put it on equal footing with other states." V'landys said, "We have been working with the Premier's department for more than 12 months on the [TAB] funding model and The Championships is only part of it. ... The TAB distribution is inequitable when compared to other states and all we want to be in the same position as Victoria." Baird "has not met with racing officials since he took over from Barry O'Farrell last month." He "had not made contact with Racing NSW about the loan." V'landys: "This is something we rejected six months ago. We had a good working relationship with the former premier but we won't be rolling over and taking a loan, which we will have to payback, therefore cutting our TAB distribution further" (SMH, 5/20).
